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| - I often wonder if Atomic Comics is the result of black magic, if through a Faustian pact the owners acquired the same interior design secrets that make places like Wal-Mart and Target formidable labyrinths of compulsive consumerism.
There is literally nowhere to go in Atomic Comics. The aisles are thin and take too long to navigate, whatever free space that would normally be available is taken up by displays and t-shirt racks, and unlike Samurai or All About Crooks & Comics, who usually staff one or two guys at a time, Atomic usually has like four or five people on shift at a time, who ALL want to know if you need help looking for something.
Yeah, actually, I'm looking for the section of your store that isn't laughably overpriced.
In an attempt to drown out the mindless musings of the many nerds, dorks, gamers and "trading card enthusiasts", this Atomic Comics has a large-screen TV on which they play movies, usually obscure anime or the latest animated Marvel movie.
This is becoming commonplace in comic & gaming stores and I tend to like it. However, like time travel and the music video, this originally good and beneficial idea is made belligerent and threatening to human goodness when placed in the wrong hands.
Imagine trying to search for Alan Moore's Top Ten or Grant Morrison's run of Doom Patrol while poorly dubbed anime and Kevin Smith movies are played at full blast, with a soundtrack provided by doughy keyboard jockeys arguing comic book logic.
"Okay, so Mjolinr can only be held by the righteous, right? But let's say it's laying on a chunk of Earth, and the Hulk lifts the chunk of earth up. Does the hammer just fall through? Does it stay on that patch of ground?"
My Satanic pact theory becomes more and more sound by the second, doesn't it?
The only reason that I spare Atomic Comics from my 1 Star of Fury is that I have always been able to find what I've been looking for. Unlike Samurai, which splits its inventory between two stores, and All About Crooks and Comics (yes, I said Crooks, not Books), who stopped giving a shit after all the other stores started springing up, Atomic Comics have an excellent selection in every shop.
Granted, you have to search meticulously through their "by title" system, unless you're looking for a crossover or whatever graphic novel's being made into a movie at the time, at which point it will have it's own display.
Perhaps worst of all, Atomic Comics is not local-friendly.
Gasp.
AC refuses to carry any comic that bears advertisements for their competitors (mainly Samurai). This wouldn't be such a dick move if Mike at Samurai wasn't like the Bob Ross of comic store owners.
I was told once this was a result of bad blood; most of the Samurai crew were once employees at Atomic, and somewhere the guys from AAB&C fit in there somewhere.
It was one, but split into many and became enemies.
Like if the Greek Empire was a bunch of comic book stores.
I'll admit I have no idea if my analogy has any factual basis. Professional rivalry aside, though, you shouldn't fuck an up and coming artist/writer just because they wanted to show their gratitude to the local scene for helping them out.
Personal tastes aside, Atomic Comics does have a really good selection of comics, manga, and all that useless memorabilia shit that you buy, put on a shelf, and never look at again.
I will say this though; they have the coolest fucking merch bags evar.
In fact, they're too cool.
I bought the Kingdom Come trade a day before leaving for a flight to Texas. I'm really picky about taking things out of their packaging too early, so I just stuffed the book, still in its bio-hazard design bag, in my suitcase.
The next day, on my way out toTexas, I was chosen for a surprise inspection.
The TSA employee saw the biohazard bag and nearly tased the ever-loving shit out of me.
Whenever I pass an Atomic Comics, I think of being accosted by airport security. And whether or not Hulk could in fact lift a patch of earth carrying Mjolnir.
Your results may vary.
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